By Dr. Philip Baczewski, Associate Director of Academic Computing

The Changing Internet

Have you done any archie searches lately? What's your favorite Gopher server? Have you found any good new WAIS document collections? Seen any interesting discussion threads on your favorite Internet BBS system? Do you have any idea what I am talking about? If not, chances are you've only used the Internet for a couple of years. As recently as eight years ago, however, these programs were the hottest things going on the Internet.

If you've had the opportunity to observe it, you can sense that Internet technology has changed as much in the last ten years as automobile technology has changed in the last 100 years, and the Internet is still changing. It was only about four years ago that dialing into the Internet from home became a common activity, but we treat the Internet as if it is a long-standing, well-established technology. As the last ten years has illustrated, this is far from the case. Treating the Internet as a stable technology is unwise for those who support such technology or make long-term financial investments in it.

Some Internet Staples

At least some things about the Internet don't change. After all, E-mail was one of the first applications on the Internet and it is still one of the most used Internet services. E-mail technology remains basically unchanged since its inception, with the exception of a standard for sending multimedia attachments (MIME). E-mail programs have become fancier thanks to the graphical capabilities of personal computer operating systems, but the E-mail itself remains a text message body with a standard header to route it over the Internet.

E-mail mailing lists (LISTSERV lists) are also still thriving on today's Internet. Ironically enough, LISTSERV was originally written as a BITNET application, but its usefulness has sustained it and its imitators long after the demise of BITNET as a network.* The popularity and utility of mailing lists reflects the popularity and utility of E-mail. After all, a mailing list is just an e-mail network (in the original sense of the word).

Ftp and telnet remain unreplaced in the arena of Internet applications, however, they are not as commonly used now as they were originally. Our favorite World Wide Web browser has replaced our ftp client, and most people don't have the need to establish terminal sessions with remote computers anymore. Most of our current interaction with remote computers is done with our local personal computer acting as a specialized client, and most of our client activity is accomplished through our Web browser.

It is interesting, however, that these three core technologies of the original Internet remain at its core today. The only major enhancement looming for these is the addition of encryption technology to guard against unintended or unauthorized eavesdropping. Until the technology of the Internet changes, it is likely that E-mail, ftp, and telnet will remain useful tools.

Where Have all the Rodents Gone?

What happened to archie, VERONICA, JUGHEAD, WAIS, FreeNet BBS, and Gopher? They have all been replaced or subsumed by "the Web." Basically, they've been squeezed out by a better idea. At one time, thousands of Gopher servers dotted the Internet landscape, but these days, you'd be hard pressed to find just one. Gopher servers were easy to install and maintain and didn't require documents to be formatted in any special way. But the life of Gopher as a technology just exists as a flash in the pan of Internet history. Gopher servers could provide text, graphics, and other types of resources, but lacked the one important capability that its rival had all along.

The World Wide Web protocol can combine media in one unified presentation and all it took was a little time for multimedia technologies to be supported on personal computers before the Web took over as the dominant Internet technology. If the folks who started Netscape hadn't realized the power of this concept, someone else would have eventually. Even the Web is constantly changing, with new technologies being provided in each new software release or with newly developed "plugins" that work in coordination with browser software.

The Winds of Change

It is evident that the Internet is not "done." To borrow from the Lipton folks, it's not soup yet. It's a pretty good broth, but nowhere near it's potential or eventual development. It seems that one untapped area is sending video in large quantities over the Internet. This includes originating our own video from the inexpensive camera that is attached to or integrated into our personal computer (if you don't have one yet, just wait).

It's hard to make predictions about the Internet because its hard to judge what forces will effect its development at any one time. It seems that the current economic boom has provided resources for both the development and personal use of the Internet. Other forces could stifle or promote Internet development. The climate of competition certainly has an effect. It was a totally free market of competition that killed Gopher. If Microsoft had been early in the Internet market, would MSGopher 2000 be the current standard?

It is yet unknown what effect Internet 2 will have on the developing Internet or even if Internet 2 will have a chance to influence development (see the Network Connection column in last month's issue of Benchmarks). By the time Internet 2 gets very far off the ground, commercial forces swirling around the current Internet may make Internet 2 an irrelevant academic experiment. Only time will tell. In the mean time, keep a careful eye on those Internet technology stocks.

* UNT dropped BITNET in 1995.

Comments, Questions? Send them to Philip Baczewski.